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McMansion Eyesores

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Comments

  • #32
    Lady Chatterton
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,585 ✭✭✭✭Lady Chatterton


    Nevermind_ wrote: »
    They got close to 5 million for it, hardly a pittance, you wouldnt get anywhere near half that for it today.
    They actually got 2.44 million Irish pounds for it back in 2001. It was a very bad deal IMO at a time. What is more annoying is that the HSE have been paying huge rents for office space all over Ennis when they could have retained a small part of the Our Lady's site and built one large office space similiar to the new County Council Office. Instead they have people going to Sandfield, Tobartaoscain, Bindon Street, St. Joseph's and Francis Street to access services such as disability aids and medical cards etc.

    I agree that unfortunately it could be a long time before we see anything on the site.


  • #33
    Nevermind_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 328 ✭✭Nevermind_


    MrsD007 wrote: »
    They actually got 2.44 million Irish pounds for it back in 2001. It was a very bad deal IMO at a time.

    Thats correct they sold it to Shannon Development and the council in a sweetheart deal (2 government agencies) who built the technology campus behind.
    There was talk of a third level institution or moving the council offices there.
    However it was then sold on in 2004/5 to developers (Fitzgibbon) and a hotelier (alan flynn of the old ground ) for nearly 5 million euro.
    The planning application is probably viewable on the clarecoco website. I.m nearly sure it was granted at the time.
    It was definitely sold on at public auction though after the initial sale, the clare champion archives if they were/are online would confirm this.


  • #34
    Lady Chatterton
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 19,585 ✭✭✭✭Lady Chatterton


    I'm not big in to mass myself but on this weekend last year the church on the grounds of Our Lady's Hospital held its last ever mass. I believe alot of older people living in the Gort Road/Ballyalla area were very upset about its closure as they were attending the church for years (some of them since the 1940's) and it saved them from having to travel to Barefield for mass.


  • #35
    Shapey Fiend
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,997 ✭✭✭Shapey Fiend


    From what I heard Our Ladies was in an incredibly bad state when they sold it. Pateints had been peeing into the walls and all the interiors had rotten away. The new building behind it probably cost less to build than fixing up the old building.

    Talk to any engineers and they'll tell you only buy/restore an old building if you have money to burn. You're going to run into all sorts of unforseen problems, it's going to take longer than building from scratch and there will be higher maintenance costs.

    A lot of people in the last 10 years were buying for investment (however misguided) so building a modern faux-monstrosity was probably the safer bet, or certainly cheaper anyway. To have an old building you've really got to have a passion for it and/or be prepared to live with all the compromises. It's a sad situation but most of these larger older homes only exist because the British had a lot of money and staff/labour was nearly free. It's hard to make these things work in the modern day.


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